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Success Story

Photo: USAID

Local laborers improve basic services in Malakal, in Southern Sudan’s Upper Nile region.

With USAID help, the Ministry of Environment and Sanitation employs 1,000 day laborers to rehabilitate drainage ditches, culverts, and foot bridges in Malakal, Southern Sudan.

Sudan’s 20-year civil war created social disorder and damaged local economies in the South. A year and a half after a peace agreement ended the war, many basic needs are still not met and many people who returned home after the war remain unemployed. The scarcity of resources often results in conflict and instability.

Malakal is one of many urban centers in Southern Sudan suffering from a lack of jobs and resources. A government garrison town and militia area during the civil war, Malakal became home to thousands of displaced people. Access for humanitarian agencies was severely restricted due to landmines that ringed the town. Since the war ended, access has opened up, but sanitation is poor, clean water remains a luxury, and the threat of another cholera outbreak, like one that occurred in the spring of 2006, is high. The people had begun to lose faith in local government’s ability to provide basic services.

To help this situation, USAID is working with the Malakal government to improve the city’s sanitation systems. USAID and the Ministry of Environment and Sanitation are employing 1,000 day laborers to rehabilitate drainage ditches, culverts, and foot bridges in Malakal. In addition, USAID is building pit latrines for 175 families who have returned since the war ended. In addition to improving sanitation services, these activities provide jobs for local workers, inform the community of public health risks linked to poor sanitation, and demonstrate the local government’s ability to deliver basic needs.

Malakal is a major crossroads of commerce and interaction between the North and the South, and numerous returnees have recently arrived in the city. USAID support to local authorities is essential to building stability in the region, and helping communities benefit from the long-awaited peace.

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